NFL Recap (Philadelphia-Dallas)
Posted: Sun December 20, 1998 at 9:31 p.m. EST
DALLAS 13, PHILADELPHIA 9
IRVING, Texas (Ticker) -- The Dallas Cowboys should be
thankful division titles are not awarded based on style points.
Despite a lackluster performance, the Cowboys clinched their sixth NFC
East title in seven years and the 19th in franchise history with a 13-9
victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.
Dallas' offense consisted of Eric Bjornson's seven-yard
touchdown run off a fake field goal in the first quarter and two field
goals by Richie
Cunningham in the third quarter, but that was enough against the woeful
Eagles.
"It's been a long road from last season," said Dallas quarterback Troy Aikman. "There have
been key injuries and that is not an excuse, but we have done what it takes
and put oursleves in position to play in the postseason."
The Cowboys (9-6), who snapped a three-game skid, improved to 7-0
against division opponents and can become the first NFC East team to
complete a perfect run within the division by beating the Washington Redskins next
week.
Last year's New York
Giants, who unseated the Cowboys as division champions, went 7-0-1
against NFC East foes, the only blemish being a tie against the Redskins.
The Cowboys, rebounding from last season's 6-10 finish, clinched the
No. 3 seed and will host a first-round playoff game the weekend of Jan.
2-3, even though they only have the fifth-best record in the NFC.
"We put last season aside and started with a clean slate," said Kevin Smith, who started
in the right cornerback slot normally reserved for the injured Deion Sanders. "We have new
coaches and a new offense. We want to play well next week against
Washington and we won't overlook them, but everyone is 0-0 when the playoff
start, so you never what can happen."
"I give these guys credit," added Dallas coach Chan Gailey, who guided
the Cowboys into the playoffs in his first season. "It was tough every bit
of the way but they fought all the way and had only one goal and that was
to win the NFC East title."
The Eagles (3-12) had two chances to take the lead late in the fourth
quarter, but tight end Andrew Jordan was stopped
for only a one-yard completion on 4th-and-2 from the Cowboys 12 with 3:15
remaining and Koy Detmer threw an incompletion on 4th-and-4 from the Dallas
42 with 52 seconds left.
"We had some great opportunities," said Detmer. "We just couldn't get
it in the red zone. It was a very frustrating loss. We had way too many
penalties and dropped passes. The defense fought their hearts out today. We
just didn't live up to our end."
Philadelphia, which was just 1-of-15 on third-down conversions, became
the first team since Atlanta in 1989 and 1990 to complete back-to-back
seasons without a road victory. The Eagles stretched their road winless
streak to 17 games (0-16-1) and have not won away from home since beating
the New York Jets on
December 14th, 1996.
After the Eagles took a 3-0 lead on Chris Boniol's 21-yard
field goal 4:46 into the first quarter, the Cowboys grabbed a 7-3 advantage
on Bjornson's run with 3:29 left in the opening period. it was the first
faked field goal the Cowboys have run this season.
"We like to run the fake field goal from the left hash mark," noted
Gailey. "We've been looking for a chance to use it this season and it
presented itself today."
Bjornson said his first thought was to at least convert the
fourth-and-2 into a first down. He did more than that, scoring the first
rushing TD of his career.
"We've had it in our game plan a few times this year but haven't ended
up using it," said Bjornsen. "It's coach Gailey's call, but on the field if
I don't see what we need, I call it off and we kick the field goal."
Eagles coach Ray Rhodes suspected his team was not ready for the
surprise call.
"I think that we did not have enough players on the field and that
left a big hole on one side of the defensive line," said Rhodes.
Michael Zordich
returned an interception of a Troy Aikman pass 14 yards to give
Philadelphia a first down at the Dallas 31 and set up Boniol's 41-yard
field goal just 1:29 into the second half.
But Aikman's 27-yard completion to Hayward Clay, the Cowboys'
blocking tight end, gave Dallas a first down at the Eagles 31 and led to
Cunningham's 42-yard field goal with five minutes left in the third
quarter.
Dallas got a break on Philadelphia's next possession as cornerback
Kevin Smith intercepted a pass that deflected through the hands of tight
end Chris Fontenot and returned it nine yards to the Eagles 30. The Cowboys
could not convert a first down and took a 13-6 lead on Cunningham's 41-yard
boot with 1:53 left in the period.
The Eagles gained possession at the Dallas 49 when defensive end Al Harris recovered Emmitt Smith's fumble with
eight seconds left in the third quarter. Detmer completed a 23-yard pass to
Duce Staley over the
middle, but Dallas' defense held and the Eagles settled for Boniol's
39-yard field goal 2:58 into the final period.
Despite holding a 356-248 edge in total yards, the Eagles did not
convert a third down until Detmer hit Jeff Graham for a 30-yard
gain midway through the final period.
Dallas managed just 99 yards in the second half and was only 2-of-13
on third down conversions.
"We ran the football the way I wanted us to today, but our third downs
are not where we need to be to be a consistent team and we still aren't
passing the way I want to see us," said Gailey.
Aikman completed just 10-of-23 passes for 120 yards for the Cowboys,
while Emmitt Smith rushed for 110 yards on 24 carries, his 55th career
100-yard game.
Detmer was 24-of-43 for 241 yards and Staley added 67 yards on 18
attempts.
"We didn't convert on third downs," said Rhodes. "I think at one point
we were 0-for-12. You don't beat playoff teams that way."
© 1998 Sportsticker Enterprises, LP
|
